I would just use a layer of cardboard or newspaper and put that over the weeds. The areas where I have put beds have been infested with tenacious weeds and on the rare occasion something came up, I pulled it quickly, they looked nothing like what I was growing.

For leveling you could loosen some of the soil for the bed and rake it level or dig some soil up and place around the outside of the beds where they do not meet the ground. It really depends on how unlevel it is and how picky you are.

I leveled my raised beds by digging under the boards that were higher. At some point, I got tired of digging and propped the low corner with a rock or piece of broken paver, whatever gave me the right height. I pushed soil to fill the gaps.

After you level the bed, I'd lay down cardboard or a thick layer of newspaper, give it a shot with the garden hose to soften it and eliminate the gaps under the paper, then fill the bed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

You make uneven ground even by raking. You smother the weeds to help kill them. You place your raised beds on top of what you are using to smother. You fill beds with soil.

Many, many, many threads on this forum say the same thing wrt what to smother with and how to proceed from there. Nothing unique or different about your yard. Happy SFGing.

Dan

Hi, Newbie,
Well, I went a different way. I left all the weeds and onions in place, put the beds in place (the wooden parts), then laid thick cardboard everywhere except in the boxes.

We had several ground up trees left by the power company clearing lines. That fresh hot mulch went onto the cardboard.

So, that left the weeds, thousands. DH used a garden fork to gently break the soil down to about 5 inches, inside each bed, and I hand-dug all the weeds out, saving the soil. The weed bits went to the chickens. That left fresh weed free soil.

After raking that flat, we wet it down completely, put thick layers of newspaper on that, wet that down, and put our version of Mel's mix on top. Then, I should have made the grids, but I skipped that part... and some of my squares did not come out square, but next time I will know better. You just can't eyeball those square feet.

After finishing the first two beds, I put down the seed mats I had made over the winter. That was seven days ago.

We had lettuce today!! We have radishes!! I also planted seeds directly in the mix for Whopper, Juliet and Beefsteak tomatoes, and sprouts are up! Bell peppers are up!! Squash and zukes are up! A seedless watermelon has two leaves up!! Those viny things will spill over the sides into the wide walkways.

I have three beds finished, 3x6 each, and 2 more 3x6 to go. Also, there may be a long bed for purple hull peas. In addition, we plan to lean bamboo poles against the side of the chicken pen and plant several kinds of pole beans. That will shade the chooks and allow easy picking.

Where we tried to garden last year, the newspaper was still in place, so, into that went 8 blackberries and raspberries, and maybe more will come.

Anyway... the extra work getting the prep done will keep the pasture weeds and onions out of the bed area. The hot mulch and cardboard will keep the walkways nice. This is the best garden we have ever had in more than 30 years of gardening together.

I've placed cardboard under the beds I made. Also I have placed cardboard and newspaper around the beds with some straw each year to keep weeds from growing up around my beds. This year we put in three new beds. I placed the cinders on the layered cardboard. Now hubby is going to surround my beds with rock so I don't have weeds in the future.

good luck!

I wish, like a few have suggested, I had created a weed barrier of some sort around the outside borders of my boxes. We laid out the weed control fabric directly over the weedy ground. Then we set the boxes down over it, added the dirt, and lastly cut the excess fabric away from the boxes with a razor knife. If I had planned better, I would've left that excess fabric there and covered it with straw, etc. I've already plucked 2 small grass blades from the inside of the boxes and we're barely 6 weeks into building the boxes! I'm dreading next spring already!!!